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Show Til BUSINESS OUTLOOK 1 Some Notes of Value From An Address to the Youngs town Builders' Build-ers' Exchange, (By 0 E Hawk, President of the Ohio State Real Estate Board)' - No line tiling could the members mem-bers of tills association do, inn a greater contribution could wc make toward a revival of business than for each of m to siart a houst or 1 a number or dwellings Inimotilnie . v. and alio1 raltli in our town and n our business o. E, Hawk. r Business has a heart and a temper and the inside works controlling the rise and fall of the business pulse are vei delicate, but the forces controlling controll-ing business an- not what some think they for man) people think that n individual or group can change the k neral conditions for their own pro-Tit. pro-Tit. Monev does not control business, neither does pplii.es. nor does any small group of Individuals: In my Judgment busineM g influenced umj jecnti oiled by nothing more or lesa than the fc ling of men in general thf State 01 the public mind, which Is public opinion after all, the great underlying un-derlying force which Is the temper and heart of business. We felt er prosperous before the v tr. We were a nation of buyers and investors it was a seller's market and prtees of wages and everything went up! capital was easily obtained and .1 luatry was extended. But soon after the v.ar the public began to worry ocr high prices and began to let up or buying and investing here the temper of business shows up. Con- rns lhat had over-extended found il necessary 10 cut prices in order to raise money with which to pay their debts. Other concerns were likewise forced, to reduce in order to meet competition, and thus we have a period per-iod of falling prices V. HEX IM I I Ii U N I 1 ML We have .been such a period for KomC time and as prices go down the IneEficW nt have to fail, while the men of more solid Judgment improve their processes, eliminate waste and begin to ai ept 1 hums as they are and make the best of them. Jt is in these times that the best business methods are evolved and ihe l" . I tuund atoms laid for the future Things are being done and lessons learned which are making panics impossible im-possible in years to come and which are also rendering less necessary future fu-ture periods of depression. We hear a lot about price levels, and if your mind Is not made up on , this matter, it should be What is the difference whether you do busi-ness busi-ness on a high or a low price level since we are sellers the .same as we lure buyers? It you buy on a high priCe level you should sell on a high price level, bul we are all guilty of trying to buy on a low price level and' to sell on a high price level HAT M l EOTS PRICES. ln my Judgment there arc onl two known forces which can affect prices, and they are o er-produelion and refusal re-fusal to buy on the purl of the public. We havo seen prices go down In the lines ln which we know there was underproduction, un-derproduction, so it must naturally follow that refusal to buy has been tho great factor in influencing prices downward during this depression. This Influence Is much healthier than thej overproduction influence, because wc have only to wait until the public mind is satisfied and stabilized before we can go forward with building as usual; whereas, if w had a big overproduction over-production of homes and buildings we would be compelled to wait on the slow process ir" Increasing population until we could have demand Cor all these. In the present situation, as I see it, WW have two strong factors in our favor; fa-vor; underproduction and a healthv demand. The onlv things we lack are purchasing power and purchuolng spirit. We have heard a lot of talk about prion reduction and we have seen prices decline in many commodities, commodi-ties, but has it ever occurred to you that most of this reduction is not permanent? In my Judgment the only prices to stay permanently re-!ii-rd are on those commodities In which there was profiteering; there j was sonic of that. We will admit, but! tbe facts &rv that in all lines of bulid-' ling materials price reduction is only ;the result of throwing merchandise upon an Inactive market These pres-!ent pres-!ent prices can last no longer than in-i 'activity lasts I What ran we do to stimulate build-j i:iK In the first placi we should l.eei, cool headed and be optimistic and hopeful ami try t counteract the, influence of pessimism and gloom. We should undertake, first of all. to right-h right-h organize the bulldln gindustry, for onlv a handful of men engaged In this, business are a part of any organization: throughout the state and nation. 1 We. as an organization, should be doing advertising from a national standpoint ln the way of encouraging a revival of homo building from the' j viewpoint of a national thrift movement, move-ment, for in my judgment nothing wlll do so much to quiet the spirit of unfj Iresl as universal revival of home building and home buying. N'o finer thing could the members of this association as-sociation do. nor a greater contribution contribu-tion could we make toward a revival of business than for each of us to start a house or a number of dwellings im-1 mediately, and show faith in o'ur OWisj I town and in our business-. (Jood first I mortgages can be secured and .next spring, when the buildings would be I finished, my judgment is that there I will be a ready market for them Thlsj Will help to keep our popYi'ation here' .will give employment to men and will I result ln good profit for those who do it. 1 The whole trend of modern bank-ins bank-ins Is toward commercial lines and I away from real estate security State banks that at one time invested most ; 'oT Hieir savings accounts in real estate 1 ! mortgages, aro following the tenth-1.. lot national banks and are developing j Unto commercial banks. They like this, 'commercial business better, and f ! don't blame them, but the result is that the mone markets of the country (are closed to the builder when he j should have ready access to them. I I We ore pared down to depend on a few j building and loan associations for money with which to carry on build-; Tnjr and, as I see the banking end, w must either organize more banks and 1 institutions that will have for their 1 purpose the making of real estate Moan? or we must amend some of our j present banking laws and compel sav- ings accounts in both state and national na-tional banks to be loaned upon real estate security. We must also correct this great tendency on the part of investors to hunt out tax-exempt securities, because be-cause today nearly one-third of the wealth of tins country is invested In nontaxablcs, and as time goes on the percentage will grow and the burden of taxation will continue to be heavier heav-ier upon real estate |